U.S. Property Taxes Levied On Single Family Homes In 2017 Increase 6 Percent To More Than $293 Billion

Average Property Tax Was $3,399, Up 3 Percent and Effective Tax Rate of 1.17 Percent; Highest Effective Tax Rates in New Jersey, Illinois, Vermont, Texas, New Hampshire; Average Property Taxes Nearly Twice as High in Politically Blue Counties as in Red Counties

IRVINE, Calif., April 5, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --ATTOM Data Solutions, curator of the nation's premier property database, today released its 2017 property tax analysis for more than 86 million U.S. single family homes, which shows that property taxes levied on single family homes in 2017 totaled $293.4 billion, up 6 percent from $277.7 billion in 2016 and an average of $3,399 per home — an effective tax rate of 1.17 percent.

The average property taxes of $3,399 for a single family home in 2017 was up 3 percent from the average property tax of $3,296 in 2016, and the effective property tax rate of 1.17 percent in 2017 was up from the effective property tax rate of 1.15 percent in 2016.

The report analyzed property tax data collected from county tax assessor offices nationwide at the state, metro and county levels along with estimated market values of single family homes calculated using an automated valuation model (AVM). The effective tax rate was the average annual property tax expressed as a percentage of the average estimated market value of homes in each geographic area.

Other states in the top 10 for highest effective property tax rates were Pennsylvania (2.02 percent), Connecticut (1.99 percent), New York (1.92 percent), Ohio (1.72 percent), and Wisconsin (1.67 percent).

Among 217 metropolitan statistical areas analyzed in the report with a population of at least 200,000, those with the highest effective property tax rates were Scranton, Pennsylvania (3.93 percent); Binghamton, New York (3.14 percent); Rockford, Illinois (3.03 percent); Rochester, New York (2.93 percent); and El Paso, Texas (2.63 percent).

"Across California, it's not the percentage of property tax increase that is as concerning to consumers, as it is the net effect to cash flow, especially for an aging population on fixed incomes," said Michael Mahon, president at First Team Real Estate, covering Southern California. "This erosion of disposable income for many homeowners coupled with an aging housing inventory stock in need of repair across many areas of the state puts some homeowners in a difficult position where they have ample housing equity on paper but aren't able to realize home value gains until a future sale of the property."

Other major markets posting an increase in average property taxes that was above the national average were Atlanta (up 4 percent), Boston (up 5 percent), San Francisco (up 6 percent), Riverside-San Bernardino (up 5 percent), and Seattle (up 6 percent).

"The increase in property taxes in the Seattle region is not surprising given the number of voter approved measures that add to homeowners' property taxes as well as rising home values," said Matthew Gardner, chief economist at Windermere Real Estate, covering the Seattle housing market. "That said, this rapid rise in values of housing more than offsets this increase — therefore the relatively small effective tax rate.

9 counties with average annual property taxes of more than $10,000Among 1,414 U.S. counties with at least 10,000 single family homes, those with the highest average property taxes on single family homes were all in the greater New York metro area, led by Westchester County, New York($17,179), Rockland County, New York($12,924), Essex County, New Jersey($11,878), Bergen County, New Jersey($11,585), and Nassau County, New York($11,415).

Other counties with average property taxes of more than $10,000 — the cap on state and local tax deductions for federal income taxes under the tax reform legislation signed into law by President Donald Trump in December — on single family homes were Marin County, California($11,295), Union County, New Jersey($10,863), Fairfield County, Connecticut($10,612), and Morris County, New Jersey($10,294).

Average property taxes nearly twice as high in blue counties as in red countiesAmong the 1,414 U.S. counties analyzed in the report, the average property tax on single family homes in the 327 "blue" counties won by Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election was $4,528, nearly twice the average property tax on single family homes of $2,462 in the 1,087 "red" counties won by Donald Trump.

There was not as much difference in the effective property tax rates between the blue counties and red counties because of higher average home values in the blue counties — $377,142 compared to $210,753 in the red counties. The effective property tax rate was 1.20 percent in the politically blue counties compared to a 1.17 percent effective property tax rate in the politically red counties.

About ATTOM Data SolutionsATTOM Data Solutions blends property tax, deed, mortgage, foreclosure, environmental risk, natural hazard, and neighborhood data for more than 155 million U.S. residential and commercial properties multi-sourced from more than 3,000 U.S. counties. A rigorous data management process involving more than 20 steps validates, standardizes and enhances the data collected by ATTOM, assigning each property record with a persistent, unique ID — the ATTOM ID. With more than 29.6 billion rows of transactional-level data and more than 7,200 discrete data attributes, the 9TB ATTOM data warehouse powers real estate transparency for innovators, entrepreneurs, disrupters, developers, marketers, policymakers, and analysts through flexible delivery solutions, including bulk file licenses, APIs and customized reports.